Dr. Jacob Nahuway, MA
This workshop session is a continuation of the previous workshop on 18 July yesterday which is also led by Dr. Jacob Nahuway, MA. Yesterday’s session discussed about 3 of the characters of Jesus as written in Matthew 5 and the workshop on 19 July starts with the discussion on the fourth character of Jesus in Matthew 5.
In Matthew 5:6, it is written: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” The key word of this passage is hunger and thirst. Hunger and thirst are signs of life. If we never feel hunger or thirst, then we are not living beings and are dead objects or maybe a robot. The same goes with our spiritual lives. Psalm says “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for you, O God (Psalm 42:1). Lord Jesus also says that we live not by bread alone but by the word of God.
If we don’t hunger and thirst for the word of God, we will surely not enjoy the word of God itself. This just like someone who is not hungry and thirsty but he is forced by others to swallow the food and drink the water. The feeling of hunger and thirst will drive us to things that other people will never know.
A person who does not delight in the word of God is loosing a great deal. Why? Because the word of God contains many life secrets from the past, of the present, and even for the future of everyone’s life. The feeling of hunger and thirst is the main requirement in our spiritual lives.
When we read the word of God, we will acquire new things, as follow:
1. Knowledge
Every knowledge that exists in the world is in the word of God. For instance, management, politics, economics, and even knowledge to conspire for a certain purpose or knowledge to deceive others. As for the knowledge to deceive, we can look at the story of Jacob who deceived Isaac and Esau (of course we must not imitate Esau). The word of God is the mind of God himself. Imagine if we have the mind of God. Therefore Christians who hold on to the word of God are 10 times more intelligent that the regular people. An example from the Bible is Daniel. If we want to be great, we must stay close to word of God and know the word of God. After we stay close to the word of God and know the word of God, let’s believe that we will not need to look for other people but they will look for us. After we stay close to the word of God and know the word of God, let’s believe that we do not need to struggle to find money because money will look for us.
1. Food
Not only natural food, but spiritual food, but we must have the feeling of hunger and thirst, because natural or spiritual food will not have affect those who are not hungry or thirsty.
1. Self Sanctification
The apostle Paul says that by holding on to the word of God, then the young people are able to keep their holiness. Holiness is a absolute requirement for a servant, because without holiness we can never see God. Human beings have four eyes; eyes as the sense of sight, eyes of the feet, eyes of the heart and eyes of holiness. It is with these eyes of holiness, we are able to see God.
1. Burden In The Heart
Christians who have no burden in their hearts are like sugar without its sweetness. Today, there are many big churches with no burden for the villages or difficult areas or those places which have not been reached yet.
We see in Matthew 5:7 which says: “Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.” The next character is mercy. We must not act wickedly to each other. We must be able to be friendly with everyone, not only with our closest friends, but also with our enemies. Only those with a merciful character are able to be friendly with the enemies. This does not only refer to human beings but also to our surroundings by not destroying the plants belonging to our neighbors or cutting the blossoming roses as decorations in at home. A merciful person always tries to help other people and to give them solutions. A merciful person will feel like he has fallen, when he sees other people falling. When others are crying, he will also cry. A merciful person will feel that other people’s burden are his burden too.
The next character comes from Matthew 5:8: “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” Those with a pure heart will see God. This character of a pure heart, will not be possessed if our hearts are not changed. As has been explained earlier, without purity, a person cannot see God.
Matthew 5:9 says: “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God.” We, as Christians who love the word of God, must possess this character of a peace maker. But if we want to bring peace for the people around us, we within ourselves must firstly love peace. Bringing peace wherever we are; at school, at the office, at the college, in the church, and even we have to bring peace to the world.
In the verse 10 of Matthew 5, it is written: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sakes, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Experiencing persecution is part of God’s gifts. Apostle Paul writes to the people in Philipi: “For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake (Philippians 1:29).” Being persecuted is part of our process of devotion to God.
